View this article at: http://www.macnn.com/articles/04/07/16/ms.bets.on.music.subs/ Friday, Jul 16, 2004 9:25am Microsoft sees music subscriptions as the future Microsoft is betting that the subscription model for online music purchases, and new players it plans to roll out that support subscription downloads, will trump a la carte music stores. The Wall Street Journal (paid subscription required) notes that proponents of Microsoft's model point out that for just $10 or $20 a month, subscribers will be able to fill up their entire digital player with music, as opposed to the $10,000 or so it would take in iTunes Music Store purchases to fill the 40GB iPod. Microsoft's approach was reportedly a tough sell to record labels at first, but the company pointed out that the average music listener spend $4.66 on music each month, and that subscription services will accordingly generate more money with their monthly fees. When a subscriber stops paying for the service, they lose access to all the music they have downloaded.